Checking old reveiws for the album the consensus was Lennon at a downslope. The former - "Sometime In New York City" - had been a critical disaster with comparatively low sales and this seemed to follow the same path. Hard to imagine today, but in my home town back then the local paper dismissed it with a few derogatory words and non of the record shops bothered to purchase it so I had to make a special order. I'm one of those who really liked SINYC back then - both music and the political angle, but this follow up wasn't love at first sight. Thought it sounded blunt and harmless, almost mushy in comparison with inferior production and audio and only title song reminding of a more glorious past. In hindsight it's easy to see why - with both studio support (Phil Spector) and life support (Yoko) gone depression and self medication followed and he was forced to trial and error on all areas. Learning about the background makes it easier to look past bad studio handeling and the self-revealing romantic approach and enjoy it on another level. Apart from the magic title track I get four beautiful love ballads addressed to Yoko - One Day (At A Time)", You Are Here", "Aisumasen" and "Out The Blue" - and two ranuchy rockers - "Meat City" and "Bring On The Lucie (Freeda People)". All showing what a great songwriter and singer he was even under such dire straights. So for me it has gone from being a filler in the Beatles collection to one I actually listen to and enjoy. Premiere US on Apple (SW-3414), First UK had label as shown here, thin matt cover, lyric inner and matrixes with both etched US number and UK stamped. (BÄ*)(JYZÖ*) (ÄPLÄ*)
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